The early families in this book are those whose presence in McIntosh County, Georgia, was established before 1860. The Civil War provides a convenient dividing point as the population and settlement dynamics of the county were greatly altered as a result of the war and the subsequent Reconstruction era. Many of the families reviewed here remained a part of the McIntosh County economic fabric after the Civil War, and are thus noted as such in the narrative. The personages and families included in the volume are those that had the most impact on the county historically or economically before the Civil War, and whose influences continued in succeeding generations after the war.